Men's Lacrosse: Heritage Scores Eight as Bucknell Beats Hobart

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Sophomore attackman Todd Heritage (Cheshire, Conn./Cheshire) tied a Bucknell record with eight goals to lift the Bison to their second straight win, 14-10 over Hobart on Saturday afternoon at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Bucknell continued its strong offensive start to the 2012 season and improved to 2-3, while the Statesmen fell to 1-3.

Heritage was the driving force behind Bucknell's seven-goal second quarter that broke open a close game. He was responsible for five straight Bison goals, the last of which snapped a 5-5 tie and gave Bucknell the lead for good with 6:46 left in the period. Billy Eisenreich (Chatham, N.J./Chatham), Nick Gantsoudes (Redding, Conn./Avon Old Farms) and Chase Bailey (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Prep), who all had big scoring days as well, followed with goals for a 4-0 run and a 9-5 Bucknell lead at the half.

The Bison lead by as many as six at 13-7 and 14-8 in the fourth quarter before the Statesmen made things interesting with a couple of goals in the final two minutes.

Hobart scored the game's first two goals before Gantsoudes finally got the Bison on the board with a lefthanded runner with 2:27 left in the opening period. Just 45 seconds later, Billy Mattimore (Tiburon, Calif./St. Ignatius Prep) fed Heritage for the equalizer. Jake McHenry scored Hobart's second EMO goal of the quarter with 18 seconds left, but a pair of nearly identical Bailey-to-Heritage plays early in the second quarter gave Bucknell the lead for the first time. The game would be tied twice more before Bucknell pulled away in the final seven minutes of the half.

Heritage had eight goals coming into the game, and he doubled that total with a career performance on Saturday. Heritage did well to get himself open around the crease, and he finished eight times on nine shot attempts. Only one of his goals was unassisted, and that was the record-tying tally with 3:20 left in the game when he punched in a rebound of a saved shot.
Heritage is the third player in program history to score eight goals in a game. Jim Ball scored eight against Penn State in 1979, and then Ryan Klipstein equaled that mark against Lafayette in 2010. The eight goals also ties a Patriot League record.

Gantsoudes added three goals, Bailey had two goals and three assists, and Eisenreich tallied a goal and three assists. Eisenreich was inches away from an even better day, but three of his shots hit the goal pipe.

Taylor Vanderbeek scored four goals and Cam Stone dished out six assists to lead Hobart.

Bison goalie Kyle Feeney (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) had another good day with 13 saves with eight goals against. Feeney was especially sharp in the third quarter, when he made six saves, including three on one possession.

It was a fairly clean game for the Bison, as they committed only four turnovers in the first half and 14 total. Hobart had 17 miscues. The Statesmen outshot Bucknell 40-33, including 23-10 in the second half as the Bison tried to protect its lead.

Bucknell freshman Joe Kearney (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) fared well in his debut at the faceoff X, winning 10 of 20. The Bison won the ground ball battle 28-20 as head coach Frank Fedorjaka improved to 5-2 against his alma mater.

Bucknell now has 59 goals in five games this season for an average of 11.8 per game. The Bison scored 14 goals last week against Navy as well as against Hobart, and they have at least nine in every game so far.

The Bison travel to Drexel on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. game before returning home next Saturday to face Lafayette at 3 p.m.